Tag Archives: peach

I love things that require only a few ingredients. As the heat continues, and continues to steal my energy away, the ability to throw a few things together in little time has saved many meals. I mean, I have pages scribbled with recipe ideas, posts half-drafted and lacking only the food to tie it up in a bow. But being in the kitchen for more than 15 minutes at a time? Please. Give me some bread and toppings and I’ll be a happy girl.

I was really excited to see shallots in the Local Box. I never had shallots until I was an adult, so whenever I see them at the grocery store they seem too extravagant to purchase. Now that my countertops are littered with shallots, I have plenty to experiment with. I’ve pulled together some of the last summer peaches that were kicking around my fruit drawer, a handful of crunchy walnuts, and softened shallots for a topping that celebrates summer while looking forward to the autumn ahead.

Peach Walnut Bruschetta

Halve, de-pit, and peel peach. Cut into small chunks and put into a bowl.
Heat a small saucepan over medium. Add olive oil and heat through. Peel shallots and slice thinly, then add to the pan. Lower heat to medium-low, and let shallots cook until soft.
Chop or crumble walnuts by hand and add to the shallots, gently toasting until fragrant. Remove from heat and stir mixture into peaches. Let sit for a moment while you toast the bread.
Top each slice of bread with a generous scoop.

Peach and mango is a pretty popular combination for drinks and salsas, so I figured that it wouldn’t be such a stretch to turn it into a jam.

My mom makes her own jam from the beachplum bushes around her house. She’ll spend a whole day canning. I knew I didn’t want to embark upon that kind of undertaking, and luckily, I didn’t have to.

She doesn’t use pectin, which speeds up the gelatinization process (and preserves lots of nutrients that would have otherwise boiled out). She also sterilizes the jars, which I didn’t do. It means that the jam can’t be kept for months like hers, but it was so much easier and cheaper (because all I needed to buy was the jars, rather than all of the equipment) to do it this way. Because I didn’t sterilize the jars, this jam should be used within 2 weeks after making it. To sterilize them, follow the instructions here.

The recipe states that it makes enough jam to fill 4 half-pint jars; it came out to just under that for me.

1 package Ball brand No Sugar Needed fruit pectin powder (You can find this with the canning supplies at the supermarket. The brand isn’t too important; I only specify it because the recipe I used came in the insert.)

1 Tbsp. honey

Directions:

Chop the fruit finely and add to a pot over high heat. Don’t put the fruit in the food processor; it’ll break up the pectin that naturally occurs in the fruit. If the fruit is too chunky, mash it up with a potato masher instead.

Add the orange juice and lemon juice and stir well.

Gradually stir in the pectin powder, making sure to whisk vigorously while doing so to prevent lumps. Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil.

When the mixture comes to a boil, remove the pot from the heat, add the honey, and stir. Return to the heat and let the mixture boil again for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat, skimming any foam from the surface if necessary.

Ladle the hot jam into glass jars. Center the lid on the hot jar, then put the band over the lid and tighten. The hot air will create a vacuum, which seals the jars.

Let sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours so that the jam can set.

If you’re into that sort of thing, you can cover the lid with some cute gingham fabric, tie a bow around it, stick a label on it, and give it to someone as a nice housewarming or thank you gift. Or just hog it all for yourself; that’s okay, too.

Verdict:
This jam kind of tastes like orange marmalade, but sweeter. The orange, peach and mango flavor combination gives the jam a bit of a tropical vibe. I highly recommend using honey versus white sugar or Splenda; honey isn’t as cloyingly sweet. I bet the syrupy molasses flavor of brown sugar would be great though. When I opened up the jar 12 hours later, I saw that the consistency is a bit thicker than I expected (a bit more like preserves), which is probably a result of using the whole packet of pectin. I like it, but if you don’t, I might cut back to 3/4 of the packet.

I’m late! I’m sorry. Having holidays on Mondays totally mess up my internal clock, leaving me to think that Tuesdays are really Mondays and so on. I realized this afternoon that today was actually Wednesday and I needed to get my Greenling meal plan going!

Crepes with blackberries and fresh whipped cream (that’s if my husband doesn’t eat all of the blackberries before I can take them out of the green box — come on, I know you’re guilty of doing this, too!)

You know those nights where company is coming over without much advance notice? That’s what this recipe is perfect for. It’s made of things that are always in my pantry and can be adapted to whatever fresh or frozen fruit you have in the house. I used the peaches and blackberries that came in our Local Box this week.

I originally made this dessert for just 2 people in 6 oz. ramekins. For company last night, I tripled the recipe and baked it in a pie dish.

Ingredients:

2 c. fruit

6 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 c. oats

3 tsp. flour

1/3 c. brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the fruit into small chunks (~1/2″) and spread it in the bottom of a pie dish.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl, then spread it on top of the fruit.

Bake for ~40 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Verdict:
The peaches were so sweet and the blackberries were a bit tart, so it was really a perfect combination of fruit for this crisp. The soft, fresh fruit is also a nice contrast to the crunchy, rich crumble topping. Such a quick, comfort food-like dessert. I’d highly recommend eating this with vanilla ice cream!